“Morning Aeson.” I greeted.

“Good morning.” Aeson wore a suit as well, but his took down a darker palate and was more detailed.

“It feels empty without the noisy Ian.” I sighed.

“On the bright side, it's quieter.” he countered.

I rolled my eyes. We walked towards the arena.

The arena was packed with people. If we did it in a much bigger place, I was pretty sure even more people would’ve come. For the commoners it was 2 bronze coins which was cheaper than other official competitions. For the nobles it was 10 gold coins, although the price varied based on their titles. I even threw in that betting on the competitors was allowed.

BOOM> BOOM.

The crowd quieted down with the loud drum sounds and looked towards the Emperor box--- to us. I realized this was the queue where I greeted them.

“People of the Zeronis Empire!” I boomed. My voice echoed through the arena. “The bettings will be allowed this year! Bet as much as you want, but don’t go home indebted!” the crowd laughed. I continued, “And, I hope we’ll have a wonderful day!”

The crowd went crazy, cheering.

The people with high level ranked up and the people who needed more practice went down. The grand finale was very close now. Aeson explained to me each of the competitors' information until I interrupted.

“Who’s that guy by the left corner who looks like winning?” I asked.

“That’s Kile Axal. He’s the Count’s 5th or 6th son. As I've said before, I think he’s going to go to the finale.”

“What about the dude over there?” I pointed, then added, “Who just won?”

He looked at me like: What are you saying?

“It’s the Prince! From the Halio kingdom! Apparently he’s sort of good, not going to lie. But to be very honest I think it’s maybe because of the different fighting style we aren’t used to.” he grumbled.

I pursed my lips. I was going to scold him for not adapting to any type of technique or fighting styles. If you couldn't do that, then what was the point of those years of training, occasionally going out on missions, and maybe going to war against countries. Which we sort of did already. And maybe we’ll go again soon.

I watched the prince raise his sword in victory. A cheer came up. I sighed with a sort of relief. At least he wasn’t being hated in this Empire. I looked up the board. He was going to be in the finale.

I turned my attention back to Kile and his opponent. Ah, I just missed the fun. He won and raised his sword triumphantly as many people cheered even louder than they had for the prince. Now Kile had to go against one more guy in order to go to the finale. But judging by his last opponent who looked really tired, Kile would most likely go to the finale with the second prince, Adonis Leo Halio.

“Ready… GO!” yelled the referee.

Kile and the other guy clashed but it already felt like Kile was winning. His opponent stumbled and fell and didn’t get back up. The crowd gasped. Killing was a crime, even in a match. But Kile didn’t even touch him in close quarters. They were only having a taste in eachothers style. Everyone remained frozen.

“Medics!” I shouted. The people unfroze and started working on him.

A man and a woman rushed towards the guy who collapsed. They put him on a stretcher and headed inside.

“Ah, it’s Viscount Kalyo and his wife.” Aeson mused.

The referee raised Kile’s arm indicating that Kile has won the match and is moving on to the finale.

“We will have a quick break now.”

I bet everyone was going to go betting in their cash right now. I watched families, couples, knights, competitors lining up to cash in their bets.

“Shall we go as well?” I asked, although it wasn’t really a question.

Aeson followed my gaze “Yeah, let’s go and bet.” he agreed.

I stood up from the chair and we walked towards the betting area.

“Who are you going to bet on?” Aeson asked.

“It’s a secret. We’ll know later, whether we’ll be richer or not.”

“True.” Aeson laughed.

“Ready?” I shouted as I glanced at both of them. “GO!”

The two clashed and I barely had enough time to get out of their way.

The crowd roared and from the Emperor’s box, I saw Aeson leaning out of it looking quite excited. I stepped more away from them. The referee from the previous matches was doing the announcer’s job, reporting their movements like: “OH! That was close!” and things like that. I watched attentively from a really close, first class view--- an even better place to watch than from the Emperor’s box. Both Kile and Adonis? Were good. But they shared different skills. Kile had almost perfect skills but maybe not strong in balance, whilst Adonis’s skills felt slightly rusty-- as if he’s learned by watching and not with a personal trainer but, he had the strength and stealth. Maybe if I teached him personally, he might even outshine me.

“First blood, first blood!” the crowd yelled.

Then, with a swift move, Adonis slightly sliced Kile on his left arm. The first blood was done, and in the Finales the person who first draws first blood wins.

The crowd roared. I clapped.

Kile dropped his sword and mumbled, “I lost.” before lying down on the ground in exhaustion. This time the medics came in quick and took Kile away. I caught Aeson’s stare, who might have been worried for Kile but I made a. ‘He’s okay’ gesture.

“We have a winner!” I roared, forgetting that I was supposed to be a composed ruler of a big Empire. I giddily held Adonis’s hand high up in the air, and the crowd went nuts.

Then they slowly started chanting. “Knight him, knight him!” It soon became louder and clearer.

I let go of his hand and studied him. If I knighted him, it meant he will be my official guard, which hopefully wasn’t a hard thing to do. Hey, come to think of it, wasn’t he my consort too? If he became my personal knight, it will be an undeniable fact that he had to be treated well in the Empire. Plus it also meant he’ll get to have a room in the palace. Maybe not a bad deal for him. Plus it won’t cause any problems for me.

I raised my hand for silence. The crowd quieted down. Without looking at Aeson for whatever opinion he had I gestured to Adonis to kneel. He knelt down. I unsheathed my sword, the sword I got recently, the gemsword, I called it. Maybe I should make a better name for it later on. Like, I don’t know, ultimate stone or something.